Mumbai, June 16: Indian equity markets traded higher in morning trade on Tuesday after the United States and Iran reached a preliminary agreement to end conflict.

Sensex rose over 300 points or 0.41 per cent to touch an intraday high of 76,579 in early trade, while Nifty gained around 90 points or 0.36 per cent to trade at 23,941.

Sectorally, buying was seen in realty, IT, consumer durables and financial stocks, with Nifty Realty gaining 0.86 per cent and Nifty IT rising 0.74 per cent.

FMCG, media, chemicals and auto indices also traded in positive territory.

In contrast, metal stocks witnessed selling pressure, dragging Nifty Metal down more than 1 per cent.

From the Nifty pack, Hindalco Industries, JSW Steel, Axis Bank, HDFC Life, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles (TMPV) and Tata Steel were among the top losers.

Analysts said the sharp correction in Brent crude prices to below $84 per barrel and stability in the rupee have the potential to lend resilience to the market.

“The strong macro headwind of a rising balance of payments (BoP) deficit is no longer a serious issue for the economy. This positive development has imparted stability to the rupee, which has appreciated to 94.71 against the dollar from its recent low of 96.96,” market experts said.

However, analysts cautioned that a weak monsoon remains a concern, as a below-normal rainfall season could fuel inflationary pressures. They said developments on the monsoon front would need to be closely monitored in the coming weeks.

According to senior US officials, the two sides have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at ending the nearly four-month-long war, with a formal signing ceremony expected on Friday.

Moreover, US officials indicated that shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is likely to resume gradually, easing concerns over disruptions to global energy supplies.

On the commodities front, international benchmark Brent crude traded 0.37 per cent lower at $82.86 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slipped 0.22 per cent to $80.57 per barrel.

Asian markets traded mostly higher. Japan’s Nikkei advanced 0.62 per cent, while South Korea’s KOSPI surged more than 2 per cent. Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite gained around 4 per cent. However, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined over 1 per cent.

Overnight, Wall Street ended higher, with the S&P 500 gaining 1.65 per cent and the Nasdaq surging nearly 3 per cent.

New Delhi, June 15: In a major step towards strengthening railway safety, Indian Railways has approved the installation of Kavach on the remaining 811 km broad gauge sections of the Ambala Division of the Northern Railway with an investment of Rs 201 crore, according to an official statement issued on Monday.

The sanctioned work will cover important rail routes in the Ambala Division, including Ambala Cantonment–Ludhiana, Kalka–Chandigarh–New Morinda–Sahnewal, Sirhind–Daulatpur Chowk, Rajpura–Bathinda–Shri Ganganagar, and Ludhiana–Dhuri–Jakhal sections.

These routes serve as key rail corridors connecting the states of Haryana, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh. They handle substantial passenger and freight traffic and play an important role in the movement of people and goods across the region.

The work has been approved under the umbrella programme for the provision of Kavach with LTE-based communication backbone on balance routes of the Railways.

Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system designed to enhance operational safety. It helps prevent Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD), automatically applies brakes when required to avert unsafe situations, controls train speed in critical conditions, and significantly reduces the risk of collisions.

Indian Railways is progressively expanding Kavach across its network as part of its ongoing efforts to improve safety, reliability and capacity on high-density and strategically important routes.

Multiple projects worth Rs 1,364.45 crore have been approved to strengthen safety, signalling and communication infrastructure across its network. The sanctioned works include the provision of Kavach on locomotives, the expansion of optical fibre cable network, and the replacement of panel interlocking with electronic interlocking systems across various railway zones.

Indian Railways earlier sanctioned three itemised works in the Northern Railway at a total cost of Rs 400.86 crore for strengthening the communication backbone infrastructure. These works are part of a separate umbrella project approved at a cost of Rs 4,871 crore.

A sub-umbrella provision of Rs 871 crore has been allocated for Northern Railway for the laying of fibre cables along 926.05 route km in Ambala Division, along 1,204 route km along with Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) rooms at stations in Delhi Division, and along 1,074 route km in Lucknow Division. These works aim to enhance the capacity and reliability of communication systems across divisions, which are critical for modern signalling and Kavach deployment.

New Delhi, June 15: The financial burden on oil marketing companies (OMCs) has eased significantly following a series of fuel price hikes and government support measures, with under-recoveries on petrol and diesel witnessing a sharp decline, according to data shared by Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Monday.

The latest figures show that under-recoveries on petrol have fallen by 83 per cent to Rs 3 per litre from Rs 24 per litre recorded on April 1.

Similarly, diesel under-recoveries have declined by 75 per cent to Rs 27 per litre from Rs 105 per litre during the same period.

The reduction reflects the impact of four fuel price revisions undertaken by the Centre in May, along with fiscal support extended to oil retailers amid elevated global crude oil prices.

Under-recoveries had come down to around Rs 600 crore per day in May after the fourth round of fuel price increases.

This marked a further improvement from nearly Rs 750 crore per day reported on May 18.

In the last week of May, the government approved an average fuel price increase of Rs 2.7 per litre, a move that was expected to help OMCs reduce their overall losses by at least 44 per cent.

The four phased revisions, implemented on May 15, 19, 23 and 25, increased petrol prices in Delhi from Rs 94.77 per litre to Rs 102.12 per litre.

Diesel prices in the national capital rose from Rs 87.67 per litre to Rs 95.20 per litre during the same period.

The improvement in OMC finances comes after the Centre absorbed a significant portion of the burden by reducing excise duties on petrol and diesel.

According to the government, the move resulted in a revenue sacrifice of approximately Rs 1.23 lakh crore over a period of 78 days, helping shield consumers from the full impact of rising global fuel prices.

Meanwhile, global crude oil prices declined by nearly 5 per cent on Monday after the United States and Iran reached an agreement and announced the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, easing concerns over disruptions to global energy supplies.